How to Write an Abstract
What is an abstract?
An abstract is a short preview of your report, generally 150-250 words, intended to inform
potential readers about your topic, research, and findings. It usually comes at the beginning of
a paper and allows people to get a brief glimpse into the content of your research before
reading your report in its entirety.
Abstracts are also commonly used as presentation proposals for academic conferences. The
abstract gives conference organizers an idea of what you’d like to present. At times, the
abstract is publicized in the conference program, so that attendees can decide whether to
attend your session or someone else’s. For these reasons, it’s important that an abstract is a
clearly written, focused overview of your report or presentation.
What to include in an abstract:
A title that clearly indicates the focus of you report, presentation, or essay
The research or data that you have incorporated into the report
The methodology you used to collect data (if you are writing a scientific report) or the
logical structure or theoretical framework from which you are writing your argument (if you
are writing an essay in the humanities)
Your findings, if you are writing a scientific report; your argument, if you are writing an
essay in the humanities
If you have space, a hint to the implications of your findings or the general importance of
your argument
A good exercise for writing an abstract is to continually answer the question “What is my
report/paper/presentation about?” or, more accurately, “What does my
report/paper/presentation
do
?”
What NOT to include in an abstract:
Too much detail. An abstract should give an overview of the report or presentation,
with special attention to the data/research you use and the conclusions you draw
For additional information and examples of abstracts in the sciences and
humanities, please see:
http://urc.ucdavis.edu/howtowriteanabstract.html
WHAT IS AN ABSTRACT?
AN ABSTRACT IS A SHORT, CLEAR, AND
SEARCHABLE SUMMARY OF A LARGER
PIECE OF WRITING.
Have you ever searched for an article
through the library website and come
across something like this?
Many scientific articles include
abstracts at the beginning.
WHAT SHOULD AN ABSTRACT INCLUDE?
KEY WORDS & PHRASES: an abstract helps a reader know
what your paper is about RIGHT AWAY! Key words and phrases
help orient the reader.
TOPIC/PROBLEM under investigation, the THESIS, and
RESEARCH or DATA used: This information will help your reader
know the difference between your paper and another paper on a similar
topic.
5
An abstract should be ACCURATE, SELF-CONTAINED,
CONCISE & SPECIFIC, NON-EVALUATIVE, and COHERENT &
READABLE.
Locke, T., & Johnston, M. (2016). Developing an individual and collective self-efficacy scale for the teaching of
writing in high schools. Assessing Writing, 28, 1-14. doi:10.1016/j.asw.2016.01.001